Escapism
by ZackSkylar
Summary: Reality and make believe. Is it wrong to make up something better to escape a horrible reality? Myrtle spends most of her life shut up in her room, not able to leave. While there she notices the boy whose mother died, Oliver, running around with a big book, his stuffed toy and a stick. He is smiling. Why? AU. If the other world was a fantasy that Oliver uses as a coping mechanism.


"Have you heard about that boy Oliver?" Someone was gossiping outside of the window. Myrtle couldn't bring herself to move today, she couldn't bear to look even go to peek out of the window. She instead listened to the murmurs from out of her window.

"Oh yes, that poor boy, losing his mother like that. He must be heart broken."

"I know. Leila has taken him in for now, but he refuses to leave Ali's home. Apparently he's locked himself in his room and won't eat a thing."

"Poor boy."

"I know."

Did they actually care? Myrtle knew that these women weren't the sort that would do anything to help, they would just talk about it loudly and sound like they were compassionate. Myrtle knew this all too well, as that boy wasn't the first child that they had talked about. She sighed. She wasn't any better though. She would listen to the world from the comfort of her room. It meant that she knew more about the people in Motorville, and she had learnt how to determine what was truthful or not. But she couldn't do anything with the information. She couldn't talk to anyone about it. Not even…especially not her parents.

Her father was at work. She could tell because it was quiet downstairs, no one was shouting. Her father was working all the time to ensure they could pay for Myrtle's medical care while living comfortably, but it put a lot of strain on her parent's relationship. Her mother loved him and kept on trying, but the stress of everything being on his shoulders was becoming too much for the man and this lead to him lashing out – all because of her.

She hid her face under her pillow. She didn't want to think about it, but she knew it was the truth. Everything that was going wrong was her fault, and she could do nothing about it. Well, she could, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Selfish.

Time passed and these thoughts continued to run through Myrtle's head. Eventually the sun started to set. Myrtle now felt a little bit better so walked over to her window and started to stare out of it. It was then that she saw him, the boy. Oliver. Obviously he had left his home; she wouldn't have seen him otherwise. Also for some reason he seemed…happy? The boy was running through the street with a heavy looking book and a stuffed…animal? It looked like a bird maybe? But it just had arms and legs, not wings. The boy seemed to be looking for something.

Myrtle continued to watch until the boy picked up a stick off of the ground. He then seemed to be talking to someone, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Was he talking to his toy? He was talking to something but no one was around. Maybe he had gone a bit…Myrtle didn't want to think about that. Either way he seemed to be doing ok. He was smiling as he ran off with the stick and out of the view of the window. Either way who was she to judge him for talking to himself. At least he was able to go outside. At least he was able to smile…

She walked away from the window. Some part of her wished that she could go and chase after the boy, find out what he was doing. But she knew that she couldn't, she wouldn't. She could only imagine and hope that he was all right, whatever he was doing.

However she would see the boy again, and not from her window. In two days time her part in the adventure would begin.

**Author's Note: Hello! Hope that you've gotten something out of this chapter (I wouldn't really say enjoy, it's a bit depressing XD). I'm writing this story based on a concept that I thought about while playing through the game that actually everything that is happening in it is a figment of Oliver's imagination and is his way of dealing with his Mother's death. So it is going to be a bit depressing in places, but hopefully will also be fun seeing what happens with certain characters who pop up along the way. I hope you continue to read! I'll try to write more and have some fun with this. Thank you!**


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